The present invention is related to the field of RSS based Internet communication, and, more particularly, to techniques for providing archived material in a personalized or individualized RSS feed and for automatically policing the RSS feeds by intelligently removing expired information.
A recent development in the world of Internet communications, and one that is rapidly gaining popularity, is the use of RSS feeds. An RSS feed is basically a mechanism to enable a customer to selectively allow content to be pushed to them. Content is provided through an RSS feed by placing the content on a server in accordance with the RSS standard format. In general, this includes an XML index file that contains various entries identifying available content. For instance, each entry may include a title, a summary or abstract and a link to another file, typically an HTML content file. The HTML content files actually contain the bulk of the content.
Content available through an RSS feed is obtained using a software client called an RSS reader or aggregator. The RSS feeds are based on an RSS standard and thus, they can easily be read by an RSS feed reader and most RSS feed readers can handle all of the current RSS standards. An RSS reader or aggregator is usually a stand alone program (though it may be integrated with an email program, an internet browser or other communications program) that periodically and automatically searches the Internet for new additions to any site to which the end user has subscribed by examining the XML index files. Some RSS readers will provide a popup window message when new material arrives on a subscribed RSS feed. Some RSS readers will check the RSS feeds for new content on a scheduled basis, while others wait until they are checked or actuated by the end user. Typically, the RSS readers can be customized as to the frequency of site checking and the ways that selected content is displayed. A user can subscribe to as many RSS feeds as they wish. RSS readers generally allow the user to define the manner in which the information is displayed. For instance, the information can be sorted by date and/or by the publisher of the data.
RSS feeds are similar to simply accessing web content through a browser but there is one, very significant difference. With an RSS feed, when any new material is available, the RSS feeds provide a very simple way for RSS readers to see when and what material has changed. RSS feed readers allow you to subscribe to feeds that you know contain important or useful information, and your RSS reader will notify you immediately whenever new content for your subscriptions is available. In short, once you've identified a useful resource that publishes an RSS feed, you can virtually skip searching for it altogether. In addition, the basic characteristics of RSS feeds allow users to be updated or informed of critical, real-time information as it becomes available. Advantageously, because the content coming from an RSS feed is controlled by the source, there is inherently a level assurance that the content can be trusted.
The United States Patent Applications, identified in the CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS section of this specification and that are incorporated into this specification by reference, disclose several inventions related to RSS feeds and more particularly, to the provision of personalized or individualized RSS feeds and new and useful inventions related thereto. Those skilled in the art will understand that one of the convenient aspects of an RSS feed is that when a user subscribes to the feed, the feed is already populated with material previously incorporated into the RSS feed prior to the user's optin date. For instance, if the RSS feed maintains the last 30 days of content, this content is immediately available to the user that subscribes to the RSS feed. However, when providing an individualized RSS feed, the subscribing user does not gain the benefit of a previously existing RSS feed as does the general RSS feed subscriber. Rather, the personalized RSS feed subscriber starts with a clean slate, or an empty RSS feed upon subscription. Thus, there is a need in the art for a technique to provide a pre-populated personalized RSS feed.
One disadvantage of RSS feeds is that the number of content items within a subscriber's inbox can become unmanageable over time. This is especially true in the context of a personalized RSS feed that provides the conversion of email messages into RSS content. If the RSS feed employs an expiration option, old items can be automatically removed from the subscriber's feed, however, this disadvantageously prevents the user from accessing older items that he or she may want to revisit. Thus, there is a need in the art for a technique for managing content within a personalized RSS feed. These and other needs in the art are addressed by the present invention as disclosed within this specification and as claimed below.